<What are you thinking about, Albion?>
"......."
Titania asked.
What am I thinking about? Quitting this game.
The whole time the attendants were dragging me around, I seriously considered it.
No matter how I thought about it, this wasn't right. A game where you can feel with all five senses was amazing, sure, but even weighing it a hundred times, I hesitated ninety-nine.
To begin with, I'm not the type of person who enjoys games.
I'd felt a little good when I cleared the first Story Quest, but now even that faint sense of accomplishment had faded.
The settings are complicated.
The character names are hard to memorize.
Besides Titania, there isn't one guy I can warm to.
Even the starting place is a country the size of a booger that looks like it'd be wiped out if you poked it.
At this point, quitting the game was the right call. What do people close to game addiction going missing have to do with me anyway? I'm an IT and games reporter now. All I can put out are articles on new game launches or new mobile products. Who knows, maybe the game addicts got together to plot a crime and disappeared, like over in Japan next door? I'm no better for latching on out of spite at the name Goldcrest, but isn't Hwang Hyeon-seok more at fault for framing it that way and throwing it at me?
An attendant said something and opened a huge door. But I was already scheming my escape, so his words couldn't possibly reach my ears.
"Raise your head."
A still-young but gentle voice. At the command, I reflexively raised the head I'd been bowing.
At first, I thought it was the sun.
The brilliant golden hair reflecting the light coming through the window.
Was he, at most, about the age of the Albion character I was playing? A round face that still had its baby fat, as a child's would. Delicately arranged features, unusually distinct and handsome.
Sparkling blue eyes turned this way. Modeling so well-crafted it left me speechless. Even though I knew this was a product of polygons and programming.
"Your Highness Prince Erman, I have brought the gift His Majesty Calhog sent."
"His Majesty sent me a gift. The coastal city's construction must have gone smoothly."
Erman.
I seemed to recall a similar name coming up earlier when Calhog and Cadwin were fighting.
Did they say he was the Prince of Loegria? While I stood there stammering like an idiot, Erman turned his gaze to the attendant.
"Convey my great thanks for His Majesty's care."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The attendant answered respectfully, then turned his back and walked right out. All of a sudden, only Erman and I were left in this unfamiliar room.
I stood there awkwardly, unsure whether I should leave too or drop to my knees first. What am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do here?
A short silence passed. Erman tilted his head. The way his blond hair slid down past his shoulder was a stunning physics engine in every last detail.
"What is your name?"
"Seo— Ah, Albion......"
"This is your first time in the royal castle. Is it not?"
"Yep."
"You need not greet me. You seem tense, so be at ease. Sit wherever you like, if you wish to sit. Your age?"
"Uh, probably about twelve."
"What a coincidence. That is close to mine. Your birthplace?"
"Actually, I don't really."
"You do not know."
The first Story Quest might have named the coastal city. But how am I supposed to remember some quest I already finished?
I somehow felt like quite a piece of junk, and it left me at a loss. Here I was before a prince, of all people, and all I could say was I don't know.
Even if Erman demoted me back to filth servant after this, I'd have nothing to say.
But Erman, unlike the NPCs I'd met so far, answered very generously.
"Very well. For the time being, adapt to the castle. Your surroundings have suddenly changed, so is it not natural to be confused? Just because His Majesty has granted you to me, you need not be so frightened."
"What, pardon?"
"You must have come a long way, so rest today. If you have any trouble, tell me at any time."
"Really?"
"Would I jest about such a thing? You may go now. Ah, and."
Erman smiled. For the first time.
"Welcome to Puil, Albion."
Leaving the room, I couldn't tell whether I'd said goodbye or not.
I safely logged out in an empty hallway. When I took out the connected lenses, my room's ceiling came into view.
Without even closing my dry eyes, I lay there blankly and recalled what the NPC had just said. Welcome. To Puil. Get some good rest, he'd told me.
......Erman, isn't he the first sensible person I've met in this game?
***
"So, how is it?"
"How is what?"
"That, the tip I gave you. Have you looked into anything?"
So that's why Hwang Hyeon-seok suggested going out for lunch instead of the basement cafeteria of the building. He must've been curious about this.
About to scoop up a spoonful of rice, I set my spoon back down.
"Playing some fucking ruined game a dog wouldn't touch if you gave it away."
"......Dogs don't play games to begin with, Jae-won."
"It's a figure of speech. Are game trends all like this these days? The future of the game industry is dark."
"Still, it's Goldrish Games. I heard pretty much all their games get decent reviews."
"A game you pay 190,000 won for had better be fun. What I'm playing was discontinued ages ago. I barely got hold of it."
"A discontinued game? How did you end up playing that? 190,000 won is a bit expensive, isn't it?"
"Don't get me started. I just don't want to give Goldrish Games any money, so mind your own business."
"Ah, that's true. Goldrish Games's parent company is Goldcrest. That might be kind of a sore spot for you. Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? Get lost. It's my choice. I said I'd take it because Goldrish Games has something fishy going on. If it goes well, I'll string it all together, blow the Goldcrest executives' cult allegations open again, and go to the General News Team before the end of the year. You got a problem with that?"
"Hahaha, no. No problem. I knew you'd say that, of course. So, how does it feel trying a virtual reality game? They're pretty popular lately anyway. You're not the type to care about that stuff, so I was worried I'd have to teach you."
This bastard?
"The NPCs are uncanny valley level, so I'm disappointed. There's one guy who's at least better, though."
Honestly, the NPCs I'd met so far had been unpleasant.
I met Calhog out of nowhere atop a gallows or whatever to start with, so that says it all.
Calhog, going off to build a city with his mistresses instead of the queen, and Cadwin, looking at me like trash the moment Calhog returned to the castle, were all on a 'do they have to go this far' level.
Hwang Hyeon-seok burst out laughing again.
"Good thing at least one is better. What kind of NPC is it?"
"Some prince-type guy, a kid. At least he's in the normal-person position. Seems like he'd understand you if you talk, sensible. Does that make sense? That the one normal NPC just has to be a kid? Aren't NPCs characters who help the player?"
"Well, that's true."
"So why are a medieval adulterer and a classist queen the NPCs? That game developer's a funny bastard anyway. Why go to such lengths on the look of a twelve-year-old? If the goal is to make the player rely on the character, it's well done. Anyway, you're less on guard than with a middle-aged NPC, so I kind of thought it was admirable......"
I clamped a hand over my mouth. What did I just say? Calling a game character 'admirable,' like I'm looking at the preschooler next door? This bastard, did he hear what I just said? Please say he didn't hear. Please.
Fortunately, Hwang Hyeon-seok was a guy a hundred times more sociable than me, and he naturally changed the subject.
"Still, I'm glad you seem to be enjoying the game. If anything's strange, or there's anything I can help with, tell me anytime."
"Why would you help me? So you can swoop in and steal it midway?"
"There you go saying hurtful things again. I'm the one who handed it to you, so I bear some responsibility too. So don't feel too pressured and tell me. Got it?"
The guy kept pestering me like that all through lunch, whether out of worry for me or whatever, and in the end, after getting a coffee out of him too, I promised I would.
Back at the office, watching Hwang Hyeon-seok's back as he returned to the Online News Team, I thought idly. Honestly, a person who's too nice is a problem, a real problem.
***
After work.
As soon as I got home, I kicked aside the laundry in my way and looked for the connected lenses. And before logging in, I opened the log I'd kept for recording anything strange while playing.
So far, nothing in particular stood out. Just one thing, if it was a problem, was that all the file said was that the missing had vanished while playing Brigantes Chronicle. Far too flimsy a piece of information for the only overlap. That the missing all played the same game, or that they'd met somewhere and kept in touch. Details like that would be better.
On the weekend, I should meet the missing people's families or visit the police station. Good thing I have experience from my days on the police beat. For today, set it aside and play the game first.
I put in the connected lenses with that thought, but.
"Hey."
<Yeah.>
"Is there anything like a time skip for us?"
<......There's a key scene summary function, but.>
Titania squeezed her eyes shut.
I glared at the bucket and dirty rag set in front of me.
The reason these were in front of me? Obvious.
I'd appeared right there in the hallway where I last logged out, but before I could even look for Erman, a servant walking around with a bucket at the far end of the hallway called me out of nowhere and thrust the bucket at me.
-Scrub the windows and floors. This is where Prince Erman resides, so there must not be a speck of dust.
-M, me? ......Sir?
-Then is there anyone here besides you? Don't get any ideas of slacking, just work hard. You got lucky, with His Majesty Calhog taking you in and coming to Puil, so you ought to be worth what you eat and wear.
-But I was told to rest.
-Did you think you were something special, being the prince's gift? You've got big dreams for a commoner who rolled in from who knows where.
The servant sneered and turned his back. The words he muttered to himself came over his receding shoulder.
-Honestly, the prince and that attendant of his, both of them are half-wits......
After the servant left, the hallway was chilly and deserted. All that remained was me and Titania.
Look this way or that, there were no servants or attendants. Cadwin and Calhog had over ten people trailing behind them, but here, no one.
I couldn't even see anyone cleaning like me. With so many people in the castle, why was it so deathly silent here, as if even the mice had dropped dead?
Erman.
Twelve years old.
Prince of the small country Loegria.
The only normal NPC I'd met.
"Titania. I'll keep cleaning here, so figure out where the other NPCs go. You can do that, right?"
<Huh? I can do that much, but. All of a sudden?>
"There's something I want to check."
Just how is Erman being treated in this castle?